How to Read This Code

Almost everyone is familiar with barcodes ...

... the set of lines and
numbers that you see on almost all consumer products. For most
of us, the only way we really relate to them is that they
speed up the process of checking out our purchases from a
grocery store or other retailer.

In the past few years, a new type of code,
often intended to be directly useful to consumers, has appeared in
the marketplace. It's the code that you see at
the top and left of this website. It's
what is known as a "QR code."
Other names you may hear for the technology are
quick response code or quick read code or
two-dimensional (2D) code or square code. QR
codes are a way of connecting
something in print to an electronic device.

It's a variation on the old
barcode, but whereas the barcode was intended to
be scanned in a line, the QR code is designed to
have its area scanned. Also unlike barcodes,
which require access to a database of codes and code
descriptions in order to produce a meaningful result, QR
codes normally store most pertinent data in the block of
code itself.

So, what good is this to ME?

Consumer products companies and publishers now
use the codes to reach customers with
camera-equipped smartphones like the iPhone,
Google Android-powered phones, Blackberries and
others.

QR codes may store:

simple text

website URLs

telephone numbers

map locations

complete contact information

event information

Paypal links

information to allow a user to quickly sign onto a wifi network

direct links to apps in their respective online markets.

OK, I want to take advantage of QR
Codes. How do I go about this?

First of all, you'll need a camera-equipped
phone that can run a scanning app. For the most
part, this means smartphones like those from
Blackberry, the Apple iPhones, or most Google
Android-powered phones (like those from
Motorola, HTC, Samsung, etc.) If you don't
already have a smartphone and are considering
one, check with your phone vendor to make sure
that the phone you might select is scanning
capable.

Once you have the right phone, you'll need a
scanning app. Some phones will come with such an
app already installed. For others, you will need
to go to the phone's app market and download the
program. Many of these scanner apps are free.

In addition to
dedicated scanning apps, other smartphone apps
may include code scanning as part of the
app's functionality. ShopSavvy Code Reader can
scan either QR codes or barcodes, Amazon's
Android app can only scan UPC-type barcodes.

You may also want to create your own QR codes ...

... perhaps a long URL that you want to save
your customer the hassle of keying in. Or maybe
a map location for a party so your
smartphone-carrying friends can show up at the right
place. (Heaven help the ones that don't
have smartphones. But, they should get one.
Right?) An excellent application of a
consumer-created QR code would be business cards
that include contact information in the code on the front or back.